the argument for greater “targeting” re: the checks seems to just be that the checks should be targeted.

there’s no purpose behind it, it’s just “we should do it because we should do it”

also, “targeting” would be taking the same amount of aid and giving it to fewer people. you lower the cut off but you raise the total amount. lowering the cut off without raising the amount is just a straightforward cut.

put another way, a defensible compromise would be that we’re lowering the cut off for checks to incomes of up to $50K but we’re increasing the size of the checks to $2,200. that would be consistent with the “we need to get more bang for the buck.”

but if we’re sending out the same $1,400 checks just to fewer people, that’s just less stimulus period.

yes. the simple and most efficient solution here is just to send out the checks and tax it back from high earners. https://twitter.com/sbwislaw/status/1357042188513902594